Iran’s Foreign Ministry Spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei says Tehran is serious and determined in pursuing the path of diplomacy in indirect nuclear talks with the United States.
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President Donald Trump is weighing options to avoid a major military conflict with Iran if the country does not ditch its nuclear program after General Dan “Raizin” Caine told him an attack would be “far more difficult” than the operation that captured Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela, The New York Times reported on Sunday evening.
The report said Trump and key members of his administration are heading to Geneva on Thursday to meet with Iranian negotiators; the meeting appears to be a “last-ditch” effort to avoid a military conflict.
“President Trump has told advisers that if diplomacy or any initial targeted U.S. attack does not lead Iran to give in to his demands that it give up its nuclear program, he will consider a much bigger attack in coming months intended to drive that country’s leaders from power,” the report said, based on “people briefed on internal administration deliberations.”
The Times story has four reporters on the byline — Julian E. Barnes, David E. Sanger, Tyler Pager, and Eric Schmitt.
Members of Trump’s team and on the Iranian side are both considering an “off-ramp to military conflict,” which would include a “very limited nuclear enrichment program” that would only be used for medical research, the report said. That is because some members of the administration have expressed “doubts” a full dismantling of Iran’s nuclear program occur, if the U.S. only conducts airstrikes.